Member Pipeline - Fax Alerts - April 16, 2004
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April 16, 2004
AMSA Meets with Key Federal Officials,
Shows Support for Pretreatment Streamlining
AMSA national office staff and Guy Aydlett, Chair of AMSA's Pretreatment & Hazardous Waste Committee, and Director of Water Quality of Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Virginia Beach, Va., met this week with key officials from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Small Business Administration (SBA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) to show AMSA’s continued support for EPA’s proposed Pretreatment Streamlining Rule. AMSA explained its position on critical components of the rule, including the option to convert concentration-based limits to mass-based limits and flexibility in the definitions of significant industrial users and significant noncompliance. A March 16 memo to EPA's Acting Assistant Administrator for Water, Benjamin Grumbles, details these positions (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/2004-03-16streaml.pdf). AMSA was encouraged by the outcome of both meetings, as all parties agreed to the need for a final pretreatment streamlining rule, though work must still be done on some of the specifics. The Association will solicit the membership soon for additional data in support of AMSA’s pretreatment streamlining positions and will provide this information to OMB, SBA, and EPA.AMSA and Missouri POTWs
Weigh in on Water Quality Standards Suit
This week, AMSA and the Missouri Urban Areas Coalition (UAC) — which includes several AMSA members — filed a motion to intervene in Missouri federal court to protect publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) from adverse changes to the State's water quality standards (WQS). In Missouri Coalition for the Environment v. Leavitt, activist groups are suing EPA for allegedly failing to correct shortcomings in Missouri’s WQS. Pressure from the lawsuit is leading the State to consider dramatic wholesale changes to the State WQS, many of which are of key importance to POTWs. These include designating all waters of the state for "whole body contact" regardless of their actual uses, changes to the dissolved oxygen standard, the aquatic life standards for metals, the fish consumption standards, anti-degradation exemptions for some POTW discharges, mixing zones, and a wet weather/high flow exemption from bacteria standards. The outcome of the case will have direct impact on AMSA’s Missouri members, and could set adverse precedent for POTWs in other states. AMSA's filings in the case are available online (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/littrack/#19). The Association will keep members apprised of the results of this case.AMSA Urges Senators to Reject Anti-Blending Letter
AMSA urged all Senators this week to refuse to sign on to an anti-blending Dear Colleagues letter (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/2004-04-07rep.pdf) being distributed by the Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP). The Association targeted its response (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/2004-04-13REP.cfm) to all Senate Environmental Legislative Assistants and Chiefs of Staff to clarify misrepresentations of the blending process contained in the REP letter. Included in the correspondence was AMSA’s fact-fiction piece on blending and a copy of a January 14 coalition letter (http://www.amsa-cleanwater.org/private/legreg/outreach/2004-01-14EPAletter.pdf) sent to EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt and signed by more than 25 key municipal groups in support of the Agency’s blending policy. Key Republican Senator, Lincoln Chafee (R-RI), has already refused to sign the letter, which is an encouraging development. EPA expects to complete its ongoing review of the thousands of comments on the blending proposal this summer. AMSA will continue to provide accurate information on blending to key audiences to ensure support for finalizing the proposal.